Game apparatus



April 13 9 1926.

O. C KNOPF GAME APPARATU S Filed Nov. 27, 1925 \QN UNMWM April 13 192s.

O. c. KNOPF GAME APPARATUS Filed Nov 27, 1925 2 Sheets-shat z Gnome construction.

Patented Apr. 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES OSCAR C. KNOPF, OF FLINT, MICHIGAN.

GAMEAPPABATUS- Application filed November 27, 1925. S erial No. 71,555.

Toallzohom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Oscar C. Know, a citizen of the United States, residing at Flint, in the county of Genesee and State of l\[ichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification;

My present invention has to do with zipparatus for use in the playing of games; and ithas for one of its objects to provide an apparatus forthe playing of an entertaining game that I. prefer to style the. man in the moon game, Y

Another object of the invention is the provision of a game apparatus for use in the playing of a game, and calculated to excite the interest and afford pleasure to a group of adults as well as children.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a game apparatus which in comparison with the pleasure it is adapted to afford, is extremely simple and inexpensive in .To the attainment of the foregoi the invention consists in the improvement as hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the accompanying. drawings, forming part of this specification v Figure 1 is a front elevation of the game apparatus constituting the preferred embodi merit of my invention. Figure 2 is a vertical section. front front to back of the apparatus. 7

Figure 8 is a transverse section of the apparatus taken in a plane slightly back of the front wall of the casing body.

Figure 4 is a transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the line 4. 4 of ure 2, looking in thedirection indicated by arrow.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective of the simulation bearing disk of my improvement. Similar nun'ierals of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings. i V The casing body of my improvement is numbered 1, and manifestly said body may be of wood or of any other appropriat-ematerial. In its front wall the casing body 1 is provided with an opening 2, the inner or rear portion of which is flared as designated by 3 and best shown in'Figure 2.

Connected at 4 to the top wall of the easing body and arranged within saidbody and slightly back-of the front wall thereof is a hanger ,5. The bight or lowermost portion of the hanger 5 is recessed as'designated by Sand best shown in Figure 2 soas to form a stop 7 for limiting the rearward noveinent of a trigger arm 8. I The trigger is preferably formed of wire, and is coiled at 9 about a transverse pintl-e ll) carriedin the hanger It will also be understood that in addition to the arm 8 and the coiled portion 9 the trigger has anarm 11 adapted to normally extend downwardly and "rearwardly as clearly shown in Figure? The arm '8 of the triggerlever terminates in a circular portion 12, and in front of said portion 12 is arrangeda sheet metal disk 13 adapted to bear on its face a simulation of theface of the typical jman in the; moon. The said moon face on the disk 13 is designated 1n Figure 1. On its periphery. the diskl3 is provided with integral lateral clips ll which when bent about the circular portion 12 in the manner best' shown 1n Flgure 3 are caloulatedtostrongly hold the disk 13 on and to said circular portion 12 so that the por- ,t1on 12 aud t he disk 13 will b e'ca pable of moving as a'unit;

[Opposed toand engaged with the rear end.

of the trigger lever arinll is a spring strip 20, connected at 21 to the bottom wall ofthe casing body; When the arm 11 of the trigger 11 is in the normal position shown in through an opening 22 in the top. wall of the casing body. The element 21 is in .the tform of a plate and in the preferred embodiment Figure ,2 it serves tohold the spring strip 20 s of my invention the said element is adapted Y to bear on the face of its upper portion the simu'ltation' of a manwith his hands in upraised position. Said plate like elements 21 ispreferably of thin sheet metal, and it is provided at 23 with barrels struck from its 3 major portion, andis also provided with an aperture 24: .for the reception and passage of .the arm llof. thetriggerlever. Flanges 25 be Prd ia ly P o d a v d below the said apertnre24t as shown. The, barrels 23 loosely receivefthearms or side portions 30 and 31 of a substantlally upright fixed guide The said guide also has a at its upper end, and in the preferred emi ed m nt Of m inv nti n t e J int a d o I the side portion 80 is threaded and is turned into a threaded socket in the bottom wall of the casing body 1 as clearly shown in Figure 4. l r

It will be apparent from the foregoing that when a ball or the like strikes the moon face 14, the impetus of the ball will swing the arm 8 of the trigger "lever rearwardly and by, so doing will raise the trigger lever arm 11 and with it the slidable member 21*, the element 21 beingraisedcertainly, however, by the spring strip and being maintained in raised position by said strip 20. From this itfollows that after each striking and rearward movement of the trigger lever arm 8, the element 21 will be yieldingly maintained in raised position to display the simulation of a man on the face of its upper portion above the casing body 1. At this point I would have it understood that after a rearward movement of the moonface 14 and a raising of the element 21*, it is necessary for'the operator or one of the players to move the element 21* downwardly by hand, this serving to return the moon face portion of the trigger to normal position in readiness; for another 0 eration, and also serving to positionthe trigger lever armll so that the latter will hold the spring stri 20 against upward movement and hence wi l preclude, casual upward 'movement of the element 21*.

In the playing of the game preferably styled the man n the moon, two or'more playersmay be engaged, the players following one after the other and each player throwing three balls in succession against or toward the face 14. During the throwingjdescribed, each player stands preferably at a distance of about six feet from the moon face 14, and the balls employed are prefer ably rubber balls so as not to inflict injury on the apparatus.

In the preferred mode of scoring, if a player hits the moon face once out of three throws, and thereby. brings about raising of the, element21 to the condition stated the player will score fiv'e points, and if he makes two hits out of three throws he will be given ten points, and if all threethrows are attended by a success'he willbe-given a score of twenty-five points," Missing of the entire-apparatus in one'throw out of three sets the player back five'points, andtwo misses out of three'throws sets the player'back ten points and three futile throws sets the'player back twenty-five points. The attainment of any predetermined number" of points may constitutethe goal but I have found from experience that it is desirable to have the player who first makes fifty points win the ame- I b It will be readily appreciated from the foregoing that my novel game apparatus is calculated to" afford considerable' interest and'is also adapted to cultivate skill on the part of adults and children, and it will also be noted that notwithstanding its advantages I prefer the construction illustrated and 1 described in all of its details because of its simplicity, inexpensiveness and durability. I do not desire, however, to be understood as confining myself to the construction and rel ative arrangement of parts as herein specifically set forth, my invention being defined by my appended claims within the scope of which various structural changes and changes in arrangement may be made without departure from my-invention,

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters- Patent, is:

1. In a game apparatus and in combination, a support, an elementfmov-able'rectilinearly relative to said support, a spring strip carried by the support and engaging,

said element for the movement of the latter 7 arranged to .be' struck and moved and also having an arm directly engaging and movable over and arranged to normally hold the spring stripunder tension and against movement.

2. In a game apparatus and in combinawhen released, and aswingable member -mounted on the support and having an arm 7 tion, a support, an element movable rectilinearly relative to said support, a spring strip carried byv the support and engaging said element for the movement of the latter when released, 'and a swingable member mounted on the support and having an arm arranged to be-struck and moved andals'o having an arm arranged to normally hold of a casing body, a trigger lever mounted in said body, a disk carried by one arm of said lever and adapted to be displayed through an opening in the'front wall of the casing body, a spring strip carried by and in the bodyand directly engaged by the other arm to the trigger lever and adaptthe spring strip under tension and against ed to be tensioned and held under tension by the other arm of said lever, and a rectilinearly movable element disposed for movement through an aperture in the top Wall of the casing body and engaged with the said lever arm and the spring strip.

7 4. In a game apparatus, the combination of a casing body, a trigger lever mounted in said body, a disk carried by one arm of said lever and adapted to be displayed through an opening in the front wall of the casing body, a spring strip carried by and in the body in direct contact with and adapted to be tensioned andheld under tension by the other arm of said lever, and a rectilinearly movable element disposed for movement through an aperture in the top Wall of the casing body and engaged with the said lever arm and the spring strip; the said rectilinearly movable element being of sheet metal and being shaped to receive both the spring strip and the lever arm and being provided with guide barrels, and guide means fixed to the casing bodyand disposed in said barrels.

5. The combination in a game apparatus, of a casing body having a display opening in one of its walls, and a swingable member mounted in the casing body, the saidswingable member terminating in an open circular portion and carrying a disk adapted to be arranged in coincidence with said opening, said disk having clips bent about said circular portion. whereby the disk and circular portion are connected together of themselves. V

6. A game apparatus comprising a casing 'body having an opening in its front wall and also having an opening in its top wall, a hanger connected to the top wall of top wall of the casing body.

7. A game apparatus comprising a casing body having an opening in its front wall and also having an opening in its top wall, a hanger connected to the top wall of said casing body, a trigger lever mounted in said hanger and adapted to be stopped against the same and having a forward arm and a rear arm, a spring strip connected to the bottom wall of the casing body and arranged to be held detachably in tensioned state by the last-named arm of the lever, a guide on the bottom Wall of the casing body, and a rectilinearly movable element guided on said upright and apertured for the reception of the lever arm and the spring strip and movable through the said opening in the top wall of the casing body; the said disk bearing a picture on its face, and the upper portion of the rectilinearly movable element also bearing a picture on its face and adapt- 'ed to attract attention when said element is OSCAR o. KNOPF, 

